Multi-purpose furniture



Sept. 3, 1963 e. STRASSER MULTI-PU'RPOSE FURNITURE Filed June 6. 1960FIG 7 Inventor G. Straaaer United States Patent Office 3 ,102,756Patented Sept. 3, 1963 3,102,756 MULTI-PURPOSE FURNITURE Georg Strasser,37 Christian Buchergasse, Vienna XXI, Austria Filed June 6, 1960, Ser.No. 33,977 Claims priority, application Austria June 9, 1959 1 Claim.(Cl. 297313) The invention relates to a seat furniture and a sofa bed,respectively, having a part for sitting or lying, which can be adjustedfrom a low position into an approximately horizontal high position and aback rest which may be angularly adjusted. The seat or lying partextend-s backwards in a sloping direction in the low position.

The known construction of this kind has the drawback that either theseat and the back rest form a compact unit or they are hingedlyconnected with one another, so that an adjustment of the seat surfacecauses certain adjustment of the back rest, and neither in the low orhigh seat position, respectively, nor in the position of a normal chair,can an individual adjustment to the seat habits of the user be attained.

According to the invention these drawbacks are avoided. This is attainedin that the seat or lying part is, at the front side, pivotallyconnected to the frame of the furniture preferably by means of twoone-armed angle levers hingedly positioned at both sides, so that [thispart can be turned from the low position upwards and backwards. The lowposition is secured by fitting one lever part of the angle lever to theseat or lying part. The high position is secured by fitting the otherlever part to an abutment, if desired, in combination with supportingthe seat or lying part on bearings of the back side.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the seat or lyingpart is somewhat prolongated backwards and can be displaced in the sameextent of this prolongation forwards, preferably under friction. In thismanner an accommodation for lying is obtained having a desired level anda sufficient breadth.

The adjusting means according to the invention are simple and reliablein operation. They can be arranged invisibly in the furniture so that itis not distinguished as a multiple-purpose furniture unit.

In the drawing an embodiment of the invention is illustrated.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of such a seat furniture,

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section according to FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 shows on a larger scale a modified slotted bracket displacingdevice for the embodiment with a seat or lying part elongated backwards.It is self-evident that the seat furniture as illustrated can be used asa seat bank or a sofa bed if the breadth is enlarged accordingly.

FIG. 4 illustrates the slotted bracket of FIG. 3 mounted in operativeposition on the seat of a chair.

The seat or lying part 1 is connected at its front lower side with theconnecting rod '40 of two one-armed angle levers 4 hingedly positionedby means of lashings 5. This construction allows turning of the part 1from the illustrated low position (full lines) upwards and backwards inthe indicated high position 1a (dashed lines), whereas at the same timethe seat depth is reduced. The fixation of part 1 against forces actingfrom above (forces caused by sitting or lying on said part) occurs inthe low position by fitting the lever part 4a to the lower surface ofpart 1 and by supporting part 1 on bearings 8. The lever parts 4a and 4bof the angle lever '4 form an angle, the angle of inclination of theseat or lying part being greater than 90 in the low position.

For adjusting into the high position 1a the seat or lying part is liftedand simultaneously turned about the centers of rotation 5 and 6 to suchan extent that part 1 comes to rest on the supporting means 8a. Thefixation in the high position 1a is secured because of the fact that thelever part 4b is limited in its turning action (downwardly) by a stopelement 7, the lever part 4a taking a position which is more or lessinclined backwards. This position is attained by a correspondingposition of height of the stop element 7 relatively to the center ofrotation 6 and/ or by the deflection of the angle lever 4.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, in order to obtainin the high position 1a the seat or lying part 1b is somewhat elongatedbackwards and this additional length is displaceable forwardly,preferably under friction.

In this case for turning into the high position 1a the seat or part 1bis at first slid or drawn forwards in the low position. For thispurpose, according to a further feature of the invention, the lashings 5are constructed as bows enabling a sliding movement of the connectingrod 4c (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4). After drawing forwards it is alsonecessary to lift the elongated rear end of the seat 1b over and ontothe supporting means 8a and the operation of high turning follows asabove described.

In the high position 1a the furniture can then be used as a sofa bed or,after pushing back of the part lb again, as a sitting accommodation.

The back rest 2 is angularly adjustable, preferably under friction,independently of the seat or lying part so that the back rest can alsobe adjusted to any seat habit.

What I claim is:

An adjustable chair comprising a plurality of spaced upright legsconnected together by a horizontal frame to provide a support, anupright back member fixed to the rear edge of said horizontal frame andprojecting upward and rearwardly, a horizontal seat member overlyingsaid horizontal frame, said seat member having its forward and rearwardends lying along a longitudinal path, a pair of slotted brackets mountedto said forward end of said seat, an elongated rod mounted beneath andto the forward portion of said horizontal seat member by being retainedwithin said slotted brackets, said seat and brackets being slidableforwardly and rearwardly relative to said rod within the confines ofsaid brackets, said elongated rod extending laterally of the seat andmounted thereto for axial rotation relative to the seat member, a pairof L-shaped rod portions disposed on laterally opposing sides of saidseat member, each of said L-shaped rod portions having both legs of theL-shape lying along said longitudinal path generally parallel to thesides of said seat member, stop means mounted to the forward end portionof said horizontal frame, said L-shaped rod portions each having one oftheir legs shorter than the other with the remote ends of their shorterlegs pivotally connected to the horizontal frame, each of said L-shapedrod portions having their other leg fixed at its remote end to saidlateral rod portion, said shorter legs being adapted to pivot againstsaid stop means to limit the movement of said L-shaped portions, saidseat member having its rearward end free of said horizontal frame andupright back memher, said back member having a horizontal bar spacedabove said horizontal frame, said seat member being adapted to bepivotally raised and lowered relative to the horizontal frame at itsforward end by rotation of said L-shaped rod portions by pivoting saidL-shaped portions about their pivotal mounting, said shorter legs beingadapted to abut said stop means to limit said upward movement of saidforward end of the seat member, said rearward end of said seat memberbeing adapted to rest upon said horizontal bar when said forward end ofsaid seat is raised, thereby providing a lower and upper seat positionfor said seat with said lower seat position being 3 1 in spacedgenerally parallel relation to said upper seat 1,789,821 Leffingwell11111.20, 1931 position. 1,888,471 Robbins Nov. 22, 1932 1,907,177Caldemeyer May 2, 1933 References Cited in the file of this patent i fz5 ar 1n e UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,771,124 Borsani Nov. 20, 1956 374,175Davis Dec. 6, 1887 1,178,214 Clark Apr. 4, 1916 FOREIGITI PATENTS1,227,229 Abramson May 22, 1917 221,391 Great Britaln Sept. 11, 19241,258,640 Abrams-on Mar. 12, 1918 10 84, 17 Denmark Aug. 19, 1957

